Ranked or no, Xavier no match for Fairfield Prep

It’s getting late in the school year. There are distractions, proms, finals, graduations. And in another week, things get serious: postseason lacrosse.

Fairfield Prep may have things it can still work on, but it has certainly been productive offensively, including today’s 17-3 win (game story over a Xavier team that, consensus was, is better than it showed in this one.

“They’re a great team,” Kevin Brown said after a six-goal game. “It’s a good feeling going into the SCC tournament.”

I couldn’t get an official shot total, but I had 23-8 at halftime, which is more or less when the full-blown competitive game ended. That included 16 Jesuits shots in the second quarter, eight of which went in, four of them in just under a minute and a half.

Matt Gajowiak made some big saves for Xavier, but you face that many good shots and you’ll look like this once in a while. (Mark Conrad/For Hearst Newspapers)

Of those 17 goals, 13 had assists. The Jesuits were moving the ball crisply, and they were hitting the net. They took advantage and buried their chances.

They took care of the ball, too. “We didn’t turn the ball over,” Brown said. “We had great clears.” Several goals came in transition.

Not the seventh, though. They had been set up for a while, setting up shots on the left side at least four times. Finally, they got Brown open on the right off a David White pass. Boom: 6-1 Prep with 3:43 left in the second quarter. Then Troy Foreit won the draw, got it to Tim Edmonds, who set up Brown. Then they set it up on the left side again: Tim Edmonds. They forced a turnover, scored on the rush, Tim Edmonds from brother John: 9-1.

Time out, Xavier, 2:15 left in the half. Three more goals and it’s 12-1.

And when the sun came out at halftime (cold and windy otherwise), a crowd suddenly appeared behind the Fairfield Prep bench. They were cheering for the Jesuits, sort of. Mostly, they were chanting for Jesuits assistant Kevin Reda, who kept trying to quiet them down. “I think the key was coach Kevin Reda is graduating from Fairfield Univerity this weekend,” Smalkais said, tongue somewhere near cheek. “His fellow classmates were here. They were inspirational.”